THE BKOWN-TAIL MOTH. 57 



also carrying thoiu to their young. July 16 other arc lamps 

 were examined at 4.30 a.m., but even at that time the birds 

 had anticipated the observer, and were carrying ofi' the 

 moths in large numbers. At 5.30 the sparrows had emptied 

 the globe of moths, and also consumed the insects on the 

 ground underneath it. It was observed at 4.30 that there 

 were sixteen male and two female moths on the lamp pole, 

 but at 6 A.M. the birds had consumed all of them. 



On the afternoon of July 1(5, at a time when the moths 

 were still emerging, a drive through the worst-infested dis- 

 tricts showed only three brown-tail moths on lamp poles or 

 tree trunks. There were plenty of the moths in sheltered 

 places in the trees and under the leaves of rank herbage on 

 the ground, but those in conspicuous positions had been de- 

 stroyed. 



Below is given a list of birds known to feed u^kdu the 

 brown-tail moth in any of its stages : — 



Yellow-billed cuckoo. 

 Black-billed cuckoo. 

 Kingbird. 

 Blue jay. 

 Baltimore oriole. 

 Rose-breasted grosbeak. 

 Indigo bird. 

 Scarlet tanager. 



Red-eyed vireo. ♦ 



Yellow-throated vireo. 

 Black-and-white warbler. 

 Chestnut-sided warbler. 

 American redstart. 

 Chickadee. 

 American robin. 

 English sparrow. 



Food Plants. 



That the favorite food of the brown-tail moth is the pear 

 tree is very unfortunate, since there are few })laces in the 

 United States where pears are more successfully cultivated 

 than in eastern Massachusetts, — indeed the pear orchards 

 of Revere and Arlington have a reputaticm not limited In- 

 state boundaries. Next to the pear the iipi)le is preferred 

 by the caterpillars, although they breed freely on stone fruits, 

 and also on the elm, maj)le and several species ol" oak. 

 When the caterpillars swarm forth from o\ crcrow ded col- 

 onies, they seem to exercise but little selection in tlic matter 

 of food, but feed generally upon all deciduous trees, on many 

 shrubs and even upon herbage. A list of plants ui)on which 

 the caterpillars have been found feeding is given below : — 



